Forced to Champaign

[SailinCowboy]

I may have need to live for a time in the fine state of Illlinois. Any Advise fro a 25 Footer????????????
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHyYYYYYYYYYYYyoiIIIIIee. Where do I live, sail Etc.... Panicing!!!

[SailinJay]

Well, to the southwest of Champaign there's Lake Shelbyville, which looks likes it's of decent size. There's some lake to the west near Clinton, IL. If you go north up I-57, you've got Lake Michigan. Got to drive to all of them, but it's doable, if you have a trailer and a decent hauling vehicle.

[resdog]

...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHyYYYYYYYYYYYyoiIIIIIee...

Good old Central Illinois. Hot and humid in the summer and cold, windy and crappy in the winter. Fall is a nice season in Champaign Urbana. I spent years there for college and also married a girl from the area, so I'm up that way quite a bit.

Sailing? It's in the middle of the freakin' prarie. Closest lake for sailing is Clinton Lake, which is about 40-50 miles northwest of Champaign. The lower end of the lake is open for sail and power boats between the bridges. Its a good fishing lake. There is a small marina that has rental slips and moorings. I think University of Illinois has a sailing club that uses the lake.

Shelbyville is about an hour away in the opposite direction. Its a nice lake, 11,000 acres, don't see a lot of sail boats.

Carlyle Lake is about 2-2.5 hrs south and is probably the best sailing lake in Illinois. 25000 acres, relatively shallow and murkey. When the wind blows hard from the southwest it can get steep closely spaced chop. Four marinas, all with sailboat slips. PHRF racing at all the clubs. CYC at West Access (Carlyle Yacht Club) and CSA (Carlyle Sailing Association) are the serious racers. Boulder and Tradewinds are more family oriented but have weekly races during the summer months. There have been Olympic trials at Carlyle in the past.

Great place to live if you are a farmer or a college student. Good thing is you're only 3 hours south of Chicago.

[Dewey Benson]

I did a few years of sailing on Carlyle. It's a puddle on the prarie and blows like hell a lot. Great heavy air sailing. Rough steep chop. Lots of places to run aground. Check out Boulder Yacht Club, they have a website. If it were not for the midwest weather I wouldnt mind hanging out there.

Dewey